Team:Nevada/TheTeam

Behdad Atarzadeh is an undergraduate biochemistry major at the University of Nevada Reno. This is his first time with the team. Behdad helped with various projects in the lab such as mini preparations, making buffers, agarose gels, antibiotic stocks, and LB plates, but most importantly with human practices, fundraising and making money for the team.

Rebecca Ghusn is a sophomore biochemistry student at UNR who joined iGEM in order to learn, and also because she considers genetic engineering to be almost too cool to be a real field of study. She contributes to the project mainly by completing simple tasks and by assisting Jasmine and Christian like some sort of science sidekick, and she can often be found hovering anxiously behind one of them or the other. Her hobbies include juggling, puzzles, writing, and spending large amounts of time staring blankly at the wall, contemplating the nature of reality.

Jon Lau is senior biochemistry student originally from Humboldt county, northern California. He will be graduating in spring and plans to pursue a PhD in plant biology. Jon constructed the INP-YFP outer membrane permeablization detection system through site-directed mutagenesis. He enjoys shredding the gnar, browning the stouts, and catching the mellows.

Christian Sy is a senior biochemistry major with minors in math and chemistry. This is his first year with Nevada iGEM, and he worked on protein expression and assays. He is planning to graduate at the end of this fall attend pharmacy school. His hobbies are playing x-box, playing tennis, and hanging out with friends.

Jasmine Jiang is a junior at the University of Nevada double majoring in biochemistry and philosophy who hopes to one day get a Ph.D. (or two) and actually get paid for doing cool research projects like iGEM. In addition to her work on the RFP portion of the project, Jasmine has been working very hard on everything design-related, such as the website, posters, and T-shirts. Jasmine is also a proud corgi owner, a horror movie enthusiast, and a pretty good cook if she says so herself.

Dafne Ordonez is a biochemistry major third year undergraduate student at the University of Nevada Reno. She is from Genoa Nevada, a town of only two hundred people. Dafne worked with Justin on the thiamine-binding protein and generally helped out everyone in the lab. She loves to play with her standard poodle and eat Thai food.

Cody Sarcinella is a sophomore currently studying biochemistry at the University of Nevada Reno. Cody participates in the team by assisting in various project tasks as necessary such as mini preparations and various other objectives, and also by creates buffers, agarose gels, antibiotic stocks, and LB plates. Cody came to the iGEM team to learn as much as possible. Cody's hobbies outside of iGEM include reading, hiking, riding dirt bikes, and practicing archery.

Dr. Christie Howard has been a faculty member at University of Nevada, Reno of 14 years. This is her fourth time participating in Nevada iGEM and she is always impressed by her students’ motivation and energy.

Dr. David Shintani is an Associate Dean in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada. His research focus is in the area plant biochemistry and metabolic engineering with an emphasis on rubber biosynthesis in plants. David has participated as a faculty advisor for the Nevada iGEM Team since 2009.

Dr. Chong Tang is a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Nevada. He is interested in insect and plant biochemistry research, as well as public health molecular biology research. He loved working with his students to explore the iGEM project, and believes that iGEM has been one of the most important experiences in his life. Chong also loves cute dogs.